November 6, 2025 — The future of the U.S. Navy is taking shape in New Bedford — at Fish Island, to be exact — where the technology that will run the only unmanned, autonomous vessel in its class is being developed by a company called Blue Water Autonomy.
SMAST scallop researcher rejected for NOAA funding for first time since 1999
April 13, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For the first time since 1999, internationally known SMAST scientist Kevin Stokesbury has been denied federally administered funding for annual scallop surveys, as government officials questioned the cost and design of his latest proposal.
Many local fishermen credit Stokesbury’s work with reviving the scallop industry over more than a decade, and a prominent scalloper said Tuesday that it was hard to make sense of the funding denial this year.
“We as an industry are very upset about this — it’s very disturbing,” said Dan Eilertsen, who owns six scallopers based on Fish Island. “Our fishery has been managed based on the published work that (Stokesbury) does.”
The National Marine Fisheries Service, under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Stokesbury on March 29 that his proposal for a $2.65 million scallop survey project had been denied for the 2016-17 grant cycle.